This List Is Flawed

Celiberal - The Righties is a list of ostensibly conservative celebrities, with links to "reasons why". I think it's a laudable effort, poorly executed. And there are no doubt many celebs on that list do run rightish. But a quick sample indicates that for a few too many of them, stated support of the War on Terror (or even support for the troops) is reason enough to list them as conservative.

Here's my beef: In a perfect world that exists only in my head, I'd rather folk not base their entire political worldview on this war. I'd like for them to support it and If They So Believe, also vigorously support (for example) expanded welfare benefits, Medicaid... and so forth. And be identified as leftist, and pro-war. [note, I did not say leftistbutpro-this-war]

From the left wing, even from the fairly distant left wing, there were pretty compelling reasons to invade Afghanistan and Iraq even without a compelling national interest. Which would put them on a par with the pretty vigorously-supported Kosovo war. In our perfect world feminists, homosexual activists, and professional humanitarians would have simply nodded and said, "yes indeed, remove the human debris with their boots on the necks of these folk."

Well travelled territory there. Let's just leave it there.

Us conservatives (this includes me) are quite happy to have some celebs in our ranks. I'm particularly fond of Trey Parker and Matt Stone. And we're certainly not surprised that plenty of country singers go rightward. Does not surprise us. Actors and singers, that's pretty surprising. We keep an eye on these folks. My dad almost gets teary-eyed when he talks about how great it would be if Tom Selleck took up Charlton Heston's former role in the NRA. Agreed.

The list goes on. There are truly conservative celebrities out there. Let's keep an eye on them, give them their kudos when they deserve it. Judge them on the merits of their work (so we don't generate another mediocre culture ghetto like All Entertainment Christian). But don't create new conservatives based on (ideally) politically neutral criteria. Thank them and move on.

By the way, the reason I single this page out is that it Googles first under the search term "conservative celebrities".